SMU won the first two events of the meet, the 200-yard medley relay and the 800-yard freestyle relay. The Mustangs sit in first place in the team standings through the first day, while Rice sits in second and Houston third.

The Cougars finished third in the 800 freestyle relay (Kim Eeson, Moira Fraser, Heather Winn, Kimmy Ballo), with a time of 7:21.66 (.06 seconds shy of the school record). They finished fourth in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:44.24 (Marissa Blumenthal, Beccy Hillis, Heather Coutts, Krystan Morrell).

Before the festivities kicked off, I sat down with first-year head coach Augie Busch and diving coach Jane Figueiredo to see how the Cougars have come along this season.

Busch is in the midst of his first season as UH’s head coach, after coming over from Arizona where he was an assistant from 2003-2011.

“There’s certainly no manual on how to run your first year as a head coach, but the girls have done absolutely everything that I’ve asked them to do,” Busch said. “So when you step back and just realize that, I’m very grateful for being in this situation and having people who obviously trust me and what I’m doing and how I’m steering it and that’s a hard thing…for athletes to fully put their trust in any coaching staff, especially someone new, so I’m very grateful for that.”

Busch said the main expectations he set for his group was for them to bring a good effort and a good attitude every day. As for this weekend, he feels like the Cougars will give him some things to feel good about. He said he feels the relay teams will be solid and he’s looking forward to seeing how several individuals perform.

“I can’t wait to see what Kim Eeson does…I think she’s going to have a great meet,” Busch said. “I can’t think of a person that doesn’t look like they’re on top of their game. Moira (Fraser), Kimmy Ballo looks great, Heather Coutts is coming around, Krystan Morrell, I can’t wait to see what she does, Natalie Newcomb, the list goes on and on of people who can really do well.”

On why he feels the team will be better than it was a year ago, Busch said he feels the team is more fit.

“I just know we’re more fit and I know we’re stronger,” Busch said. “I know bodies have changed a lot. I think we can be better in our relays because of the more sprint-oriented training that we’ve done. I expect us to be better.”

Busch expects a highly competitive conference meet.

“I think this will be the most competitive conference meet in a long time,” Busch said. “I think SMU has the best team they’ve had in four or five years and are a potential top-eight or top 10 team in the NCAAs. I don’t think Rice lost a whole lot from their team that won last year. East Carolina seems to have some good freshmen and some good diving too.

I think we can be better than we were last year and I think Tulane and Marshall will be better than they were last year. It’ll be real competitive.”

Figueiredo, who is in her 21st year at Houston, said Busch has been great to work with.

“The quality and the expertise and his consistency, character-wise and professionalism has been nothing less than what I expected,” Figueiredo said. “I know his dad (USA Swimming National Team Director Frank Busch) very well and knowing him as well as I do, that’s the same sort of quality I expected from Augie, but in his own way, a different way.”

As for the divers, Figueiredo expects the Cougars to continue their dominance in C-USA. Traditionally, Houston has swept all three diving events at the conference championships, with last season being an exception as the Cougars took just two of three.

With junior Julia Lonnegren and freshman Natasha Burgess in tow, Figueiredo has high expectations for the weekend.

“We expect to continue that tradition,” Figueiredo said. “(Burgess) has been fantastic and I couldn’t be more excited about her. I expect her to challenge my junior (Lonnegren) this week. We expect (Lonnegren) to step up and do what she’s supposed to do.

“With the two of them, we’d like to think we can (finish) 1-2 on every level.”